Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has established a credible reputation as a reliable and enduring member of the Russian government, largely owing to his close and long-standing friendship with President Vladimir Putin. Shoigu, the longest-serving defense minister since the establishment of the Russian Armed Forces,... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here.   The Romanian Danube Flotilla is Europe’s largest riverine naval force, representing a unique capability, unmatched by any of the other European allies of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) (see Part One in EDM, April 6). The... MORE

On Friday, April 10, 1,793 patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection were kept in hospitals across Belarus (Sputnik.by, April 10); but by the following day, April 11, the number had already risen to 2,031. As of Saturday, most patients’ condition was fair; just 52 were in... MORE

Moscow’s dispatch of medical equipment and expertise abroad during the coronavirus pandemic has been anything but disinterested. Instead, it is clearly intended to serve Russia in a variety of ways. The Kremlin is using this aid to shore up alliances, as in the case of... MORE

On March 12, the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration hosted a retreat session of the Ukrainian parliament’s Committee on Economic Development. The main subject on the lawmakers’ agenda was the prospects of reviving the Ukrainian rocket industry as well as launching a national space program. Dnipro—nicknamed... MORE

The agreement on Georgia’s electoral reform, signed between the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party and the united opposition at the US Embassy in Tbilisi on March 8 (Ge.usembassy.gov, accessed April 13), appeared to bring some level political peace back to the country. According to the... MORE

While the whole world copes with the crisis caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic responsible for COVID-19, Moscow has been attempting to take advantage of the situation. Under the pretext of helping them tackle a “common misfortune,” the Kremlin hopes, at a minimum, to pressure... MORE

News about a new deal on oil production cuts, agreed between Russia and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and then augmented by the communique of the G20 energy minsters last Friday (April 10), had been expected; as such, the developments made little... MORE

On February 11, the head of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, Yevgeny Zinichev, stated that a series of Crisis Management Centers were being established in the Artic region in order to “increase the level of security in the Northern Sea Route” (Lenta.ru, February 11).... MORE

Recent reports that Moscow is deploying Cossack groups along the Russian-Ukrainian border near the Kharkiv, Sumy and Chernihiy regions of Ukraine are extremely worrisome, as the Kremlin ostensibly used similar units in its initial invasion of southeastern Ukraine in 2014. Such revelations may presage a... MORE